Mt. Oyama

A fun little hike that took us to Kanagawa. This was a fun outing with Scarlett and her then date Kaz as well as Sophie. Sophie and I brought some greens to enjoy the hike a bit more but she wasn't able to roll the joints so once we got to Isehara station, I had to go to the bathroom and roll them while rushing as to not miss the bus. We ended up missing it anyway and had to wait for the next one, plus my rolls weren't the best of quality. Once we got to our stop, we passed through a market place heading to the trailhead. Most of the people opted to take the cable car but not us. It was always nice to see Buddhist statues scattered around as we began our hike up. Mt. Oyama is a popular mountain, known for having its seven wonders in the form of power spots. The power spots were special objects venerated in the Shinto tradition such as ancient trees or rocks. We soon approached the stairs leading up to Oyama Temple. Both sides had numerous fierce-looking statues lined up. The scent of high quality incense wafted through the air. By the shrine, there was a koi pond and we happened upon a ceremony being held by some priests. We decided to move on and passing by a bridge that had warnings of leeches and salt for use. I realized that the path was going to be full of people all through out so we decided to find a spot so smoke up. I found a nice secluded spot away from the main path though for Kaz, it was still too scary and he was too anxious to smoke. Me and Soph smoked up pretty good and it was really an amazing high. It was really funny to see Kaz panic while the boy scouts were playing around. Scarlett went ahead and we soon caught up to her.

The hike started to pick up more as the paved soil turned into giant rocks and boulders that we had to scramble up to. I passed by a lot of people as I continued up with my own pace. We soon reached the next check point, the Oyama Afuri Shrine. A much grander temple than the one below that offered even more picturesque views of the lands beyond. From here, it was the last push to the summit which became much steeper and much more challenging, we went off the beaten path to smoke again, this time Kaz partook much properly and was left highly satisfied right in time as we approached the summit. Here, we went to a soba shop and ate an amazing meal before finding a spot to sit down and admire the scenery from the top. For the descent, we chose to go down via the Miharashidai which provided even more amazing views as we went down, made even more beautiful by the golden hour. We sneaked in a last puff and another foreigner with a keen smell teased us trying to find who the stoner was among the group. The hike definitely took its toll on Scarlett's knees but the whole group made it back down without relying on the cable car. All in all, it was another successful day hike.Læs mere